Vigilent Inc. — Department of Defense SBIR Phase I: J201-CSO1

Description

The U.S. Military and other Federal Agencies such as, the Department of Transportation, the Federal Aviation Administration, the U.S. Department of U.S. Department of Homeland Security and the U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) operate a range of Unmanned Aerial System (UAS) (Including Unmanned Aerial Vehicles (UAV) and Remotely Piloted Vehicles (RPV)) aircraft (commonly called “Drones”) to accomplish various elements of their Intelligence, Surveillance, and Reconnaissance (ISR), Cclose -Aair Ssupport (CAS); air interdiction; Ccombat Ssearch and Rrescue (CSAR); or strike coordination, and reconnaissance operations. These UASs gather various elements of data, and information, and intelligence in low and high threat areas significantly increasing the level of situational awareness for theater operators. With the proliferation, both in numbers and types, of military, Federal, and commercial/civilian UASs the problems of the operational environment, airspace safety and mission coordination have been exacerbated with airspace becoming more congested, complicating friend or foe identification, and confusing command and control, and inhibiting dependent operations with Wing Operations Centers (WOC) and Air Operations Centers (AOC) to name a few examples. The more sophisticated UASs utilize on-board Flight Data Systems but usually rely on ground operations/operators to retrieve their data after return to base. This critical flight data, which may Improve future flights and operations, is mostly inaccessible during the flight operations. Most Aviation experts agree that constant monitoring and data transmission of flight critical data in Real-Time to gGround personnel can improve Air Operations, Pilot management and Asset tracking., Just as Aircraft monitoring is essential for Aircraft operations, the same is true for UAS operations, and UAS monitoring, tracking and flight awareness can greatly enhance National and Battlespace Airspace Efficiency and Safety and serve as the best method for Accident Prevention or unwanted/unmanaged Intervention. Vigilent Inc. and Vigilent Labs are uniquely positioned to quickly and efficiently identify and implement the capability enhancements needed by the USAF. Our open architecture technology provides the mechanism to address and solve immediate issues with minimal disruption to existing systems and ongoing operation as well provide the flexibility to develop and integrate future technologies and capabilities addressing evolving threats. The SBIR program is the ideal vehicle for Vigilent Labs to introduce our products to improve the USAF UAS and Airspace management and control capabilities.